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His manager sees it. And after Thursday night's game, he finally feels it.

"I'm getting closer," he said.

Martinez had two hits in an 8-1 loss to the Royals. But it was his two outs that have him feeling closer to the Martinez of last year than the Martinez so far this year.

The first was a flyout off left-hander Danny Duffy, a pitch "right down the middle," he said, that he missed on an out to centerfield. The second was another flyout, this one deeper and to left-centerfield, swinging left-handed against right-hander Jason Frasor.

"He's been slowly getting better and better," manager Brad Ausmus said. "The last couple days from the left side, he's looked as good as we've seen him look."

And Martinez took that momentum into his batting practice session before Friday's game, sending pitch after pitch after pitch to the warning track in left-centerfield.

"Just by watching him," Ausmus said Thursday, "I can tell. And I told him yesterday at the game, he's really close to being where he was. He also, whenever he squares up a ball, it seems to get caught.

"He's starting to really — hitting left-handed — turn on some balls. You don't see him jumping out of the way from balls and limping like he was a week and a half ago. He just seems like he's not dealing with the same pain that he's dealing with earlier. He just looks better to me."

He has been hobbled with knee soreness early this season, stemming from his second major knee surgery in three years after suffering a torn meniscus in his left knee in February.

As Martinez limped around the bases in the first month of the season, it was fair to wonder whether the Tigers would be better suited shelving him on the 15-day disabled list for a couple of weeks to see how the knee responds to the rest.

"We talked about it, and there's no guarantee that rest will do anything," Ausmus said. "The irritation that he's experiencing — which is dissipating — is not in the area where the surgery was. Now, that doesn't mean it wasn't a result of the surgery."

But, Ausmus said, the past five batting practice sessions he has taken left-handed have been outstanding.

"There's no indication during batting practice that it's really bothering him that much," Ausmus said. "Occasionally in the game you see it, but not like we did the first 10 days, so I think he's moving in the right direction."

■IN OR OUT: Ausmus wouldn't tip his hand as to whether the Tigers will stay in rotation throughout their off day Monday. If they do, left-hander David Price would pitch today against the Royals and the series opener Friday at home against the Royals.

■INJURY UPDATE:Bruce Rondon threw to hitters Thursday in Lakeland, Fla., and it "went well," Ausmus said. He expects the right-handed reliever to throw at least one more live batting practice session.